Nationalities

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Nacionalidades

Every country and continent has an adjective that can be used to describe people and things from that place, using the verb ser. Those same adjectives can also be used as nouns to refer to people from that place.

Por ejemplo…

No soy español.		I’m not Spanish.
Tengo una tía española.		I have a Spanish aunt.
Conozco a un colombiano.		I know a Columbian (man).

Here are some nationalities and "continentalities" you might need to know.

Noun / Adjective		Nationality
		Masculine	Feminine
African		africano	africana
American (North + South)		americano*	americana
American from USA		estadounidense	estadounidense
Argentine		argentino	argentina
Asian		asiático	asiática
Australian		australiano	australiana
Brazilian		brasileño	brasileña
Canadian		canadiense	canadiense
Chinese		chino	china
Colombian		colombiano	colombiana
Egyptian		egipcio	egipcia
English		inglés	inglesa
European		europeo	europea
French		francés	francesa
German		alemán	alemana
Indian		indio	india
Italian		italiano	italiana
Japanese		japonés	japonesa
Mexican		mejicano	mejicana
Polish		polaco	polaca
Portuguese		portugués	portuguesa
Russian		ruso	rusa
Spanish		español	española
Swiss		suizo	suiza
Ukrainian		ucraniano	ucraniana

Irregular nationality agreement

• Feminine of nationalities that end in -e
• Feminine of nationalities that end in -s
• Plural of nationalities that end in -e
• Plural of nationalities that end in -s

 Notes

Many nationalities are identical to their respective languages.

Nationalities, which are both adjectives and proper nouns, are not capitalized in Spanish. When feminine and/or plural, they follow the same agreement rules as other adjectives.

* This refers to anyone from either North or South America; to talk about someone from the United States, use estadounidense.

 Related lessons

• Adjectives
• Essential Spanish
• Nouns and gender
• Ser conjugations
   

 En français

• Nationalités
   

 In italiano

• Nazionalità
   

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